From “Bands to Watch” to Must-See: Florence Road Conquer KOKO
Photographer: James Mitchell
Florence Road played their biggest headline show yet. The sold-out crowd made it feel like the start of something much bigger. Support came from fellow Irish artist MOIO, whose mix of indie rock, soul, and pop set the tone perfectly for the night. With festival season ahead and an album likely on the way, Florence Road’s rise doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Florence Road
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There’s an incredibly rich seam of exciting new British and Irish indie/alt-rock bands currently delighting crowds from London to LA. Led by more established peers like Wolf Alice, The Last Dinner Party, Fontaines DC and Wet Leg, up and coming artists like CMAT, NewDad and, of course, Florence Road are closing on (and passing) the magical 1 million monthly Spotify listens. And it’s massively encouraging that female talent in guitar-based music is (finally) coming through as strongly as their male counterparts.
Florence Road, Flo Ro to their ever-growing fanbase, aren’t quite the finished article, but the last 12 months has certainly seen them climb an ever-steeper success curve during which they joined the likes of Wolf Alice, The Last Dinner Party and Oliva Rodrigo on tour.
Tonight, they’re playing their own headline show at a packed KOKO in Camden (which they sold out months ago), at the end of a hugely successful UK tour and ahead of multiple festival appearances over the summer.
Singer Lily Aron seems slightly overwhelmed when she announces to the crowd that tonight’s show is the biggest headline gig they’ve ever played but, honestly, they could have sold this beautiful, storied Victorian theatre many times over. It probably felt a little ambitious when they booked the gig, but they’ve risen so fast it feels like they might have already outgrown its 1,500 capacity.
So it’s a hugely exciting prospect to see this talented four-piece from County Wicklow at this crucial point in their career. From NME to Kerrang, they’re on almost everyone’s list of “bands to watch in 2026” and you can almost taste the anticipation in the air. Refreshingly, the audience is both early to the venue and generally the same age as the band. Chatting to fans this evening, it’s clear that Flo Ro speak directly to the emotional state of their generation and it’s this, along with their catchy, intelligent songwriting, which is largely responsible for their rapid rise.
The many early attendees are treated to an opener who is himself on a rapidly upward trajectory. From R&B to indie rock, pop and even soul, Moio is another Irish artist who is successfully pulling the strands of various genres together into an exciting and beautifully coherent whole. With a mix of tracks from his debut EP Earthday, released last year, there’s an infectious, confident energy to his performance which shows he’s outgrown his “TikTok breakthrough” history. Opening track “Figure It Out” is followed by current single “Just A Man” and two new songs, “We Fall” and “Reason.” The strength of this material suggests, hopefully, an album release at some point in the next 12 months.
By their own admission, the scale of some of the audiences Florence Road played to in 2025 on support tours was the trigger for them to actually start believing in themselves. That confidence is evident as they take the stage to a wall of noise, but there’s still a strong sense that they haven’t lost that direct connection to their fans that can sometimes go missing as an artist grows. It manifests in songs like “Rabbits Can Swim,” an intimate ballad that tells of the mix of deep longing, vulnerability and search for comfort inherent in many relationships.
With Aron on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Emma Brandon on lead guitar, Ailbhe Barry on bass and Hannah Kelly on drums, Flo Ro run through the full history of the band’s music from their first ever release, another seventeen, to the (as yet) unreleased new songs “White Smile” and “None The Wiser.” The set majors, naturally, on fan favourites like “Heavy,” “Figure It Out” and “Hanging Out To Dry” and it’s testament to their talent and depth that there are so many of these despite the band not having released an album yet (albeit they are two EPs in already).
Lily’s vocal flip gives many of their songs a Stevie Nicks-like urgency coupled with haunting purity. It’s most evident on tracks like “Storm Warnings” - a stunning and very personal expression of the search for understanding in a relationship breakup. As with other songs in their catalogue, listening to “Storm Warnings” is a multi-layered experience. The music itself swells and recedes like a literal tempest of emotion, while poetic lyrics convey the frustration and powerlessness of knowing the end is coming – “And it’s getting harder to even see/The sunny day we used to be/I fight the urge to say you never knew me…”
At the other end of their repertoire are songs like “Goodnight,” a track which comes straight from the Olivia Rodrigo or Avril Lavigne school of defiant pop-rock. It’s a massive “fuck you” to an ex with a catchy chorus and hand claps. You watch them on stage belting out the closer “Break The Girl”; you see how the audience reacts, and suddenly it’s obvious why they’re rising so fast.
A summer of festivals follows, by the end of which they will be several steps further up the ladder. After that, an album is sure to follow in the autumn. At this rate, and with this talent, you wouldn’t put it past them to be headlining those same festivals next year. And that would be lovely…
Article by: James Mitchell
Plug In. Tune Out.
Florence Road is an indie rock band known for pairing emotionally charged songwriting with sweeping guitar-driven melodies. Their sound blends moody alternative rock with dreamy indie textures. With raw lyricism, atmospheric instrumentals, and a youthful intensity running through their music, Florence Road captures that late-night reflection and restless emotion.
MOIO
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MOIO .𖥔 ݁ ˖
Plug In. Tune Out.
MOIO is a Dublin-based singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist whose music blends alternative R&B with indie rock, soul, and bedroom pop influences. His sound pairs warm, atmospheric production with emotionally open songwriting. Creating songs are intimate, and reflective.